The Vicar Connection (SPOILER ALERT!)
Alkahest Unlimited- Anatoli Vicar and Kenneth Malcolm were research partners and co-founders of Alkahest Unlimited, an 'alternative chemistry' company. Their primary focus was finding connections between alchemy and modern science, applying modern technology to ancient theories. Their ultimate goal was to synthesize the Azoth, a cure-all panacea of alchemical lore. Along the way, they made great strides in the field of chemical engineering, as well as several rejected formulas for the Azoth, which they stored in a vault for future reference. Unbeknownst to Vicar, Malcolm was convinced that one of the rejected formulas held the key, and had been continuing research of the rejects, eventually testing the most advanced candidate on himself. Repeated doses yielded near-limitless regenerative abilities, but slowly induced acute neurocide that drove Kenneth mad. He grew increasingly more aggressive and paranoid, and eventually was dismissed and cut off by Vicar. Enraged, Malcolm trashed the laboratory and stripped the Azoth vault of its samples. The Street Sweeper- For the next five months, Malcolm stalked the city streets, hunting people with dark secrets (i.e adultery, abusive disposition, drug abuse). He spirited these victims away to a makeshift laboratory in an abandoned storage facility and tested the formulas on them, convinced he could cure them of their 'impurities'. In five months, his experiments and rage claimed the lives of seventeen people, his final victims being his wife, sister-in-law, and young daughter. He also attempted to kill his son, Tyler Malcolm (whom he may have been using as a long-term test subject, perhaps due to Tyler's Aspergers Syndrome), but was impaled on an ornamental crucifix Tyler seized to defend himself. Tyler was brought under police protection, but somehow vanished from his hospital room and was later found by Carmine 'Tal' Napoli, Marshall French, and Laurie Calbrite, the resident Specters of Detroit. Rechristened Jordan Anthony Beck, he was raised unaware of his traumatic background. Possessing no memories prior to being found by Tal on the streets of Detroit, Jordan knew no other life than his upbringing as a Specter. It should also be noted that his guardians were issued orders from an unrevealed authority to never disclose his true identity to him under any circumstances. Ressurection- Meanwhile, Kenneth Malcolm's body was sent to a crematorium for disposal when he resurrected and killed the drivers before dumping the van in a river, thereby covering his tracks. Clad in the uniform of a fallen police officer, he flagged down and murdered a motorist, stealing their car and setting out toward Chicago, where he stole a fully-stocked shipping container from the Alkahest Unlimited refinery, bribing a Canadian smuggling team to to help him ship his haul into open waters. He promptly murdered the crew by spiking their food with the very heroine they were smuggling. With his new floating base established in Lake Michigan, Malcolm spent several months in seclusion, only venturing to shore to restock supplies and capture new victims, whom he hauled back on a small dinghy. A new monster is born- After nearly two years in hiding, Malcolm sought out his original data, which had been placed in the care of an FBI agent. By way of a fluke blackout, Malcolm ambushed and murdered the agent. He searched the man's belongings and was momentarily furious when he found his data was not among the fed's files, but then uncovered the last assignment of his victim: overseeing a secret paramilitary group known as the Motor Marauders, and was intrigued when he also found the manifest of their next supply shipment, which contained ample supplies to continue his research without his original data. Through the use of one of his Azoth rejects and minor plastic surgery, he made superficial modifications to the structure of his face, and took up smoking to modify his voice. With his new identity secured, he shed the name Kenneth Malcolm, and assumed the identity of the fallen agent: Prescott Derringer.The new Derringer inserted himself into the operations of the Motor Marauders, at first only from a distance, via a scrambler phone. It was not long, however, before he appeared to them in person and discovered that his son was under their care. Realizing that Jordan/Tyler did not recognize him, Derringer kept up his ruse and monitored the Specters as they went about their lives, all the while stealing equipment and materials from the Soapworks basement with which to continue his experiments. The Specters caught him in the act several times and eventually prepared to hand him over to the FBI. In danger of being exposed as a fraud, Derringer made a desperate gamble, and blackmailed a handful of mercenaries into his service, disguising them as the very FBI hit squad sent to take him out. Just as the Specters handed Derringer over, the mercenaries opened fire. When the gun smoke cleared, all of the 'rogue agents' were dead, and Derringer had fled into the Soapworks subbasement, where he attempted to escape through a tunnel leading into the Detroit Salt Mines. As he stumbled through the dark, he found a strange device among some abandoned mining equipment: a small, probe-like object bearing the name Gabriel V (5). He somehow activated the probe, unleashing the creature that would come to be known as 'the Thing in the Basement'. While the Specters engaged in their fateful battle with the Thing, Derringer escaped through the mines. Dead...again- Nine years later, reports came to Jordan Beck and his fledgling team that Derringer was returning to Detroit. In the intervening years, Derringer had moved forward with his research and had learned that Jordan contained the 'true' Azoth as a result of the experiments he had performed on him as a child. Derringer surmised that in order to harness the Azoth, he would have to extract it from Jordan and place it in a vessel he could manipulate, and determined Gabriel V to be the ideal candidate. He raided the Soapworks with clairvoyant Tessa as a hostage and backup from a pack of werewolves. Once more Derringer was defeated, and this time was slain when all three Motor Marauders struck him at once and almost completely obliterated his body. Derringer returned again, reborn through the power of his formula. He bided his time, manipulating events from the shadows; he sent the concert tickets that led the Specters to their encounter with Valentine and the Dead, and planted the seeds of information that led to the battle in Abeline in Episode 7. Master Plan- Derringer returned during the New Asgard War, taking Lu and Jordan hostage in a building adjacent to the Tower of Babel. There, he revealed that his plan was to utilize the Fallen Star (which he stole from the Soapworks during the fighting) to alter the pattern of the seal the Norns had carved into the tower face to gain Kali's power, and then use the Azoth in Jordan's body to 'purify' the world. While Lu struggled to free herself, Derringer prepared to extract the Azoth from Jordan's body using a surgical apparatus. Just before he began the process, he mocked Jordan by revealing his true identity as Jordan's father, unlocking the memories buried deep in Jordan's subconscious and nearly throwing him into a catatonic state. Lu managed to free herself and stopped the extraction process, saving Jordan from an extremely painful death. Enraged, Derringer shot her in the thigh, which sent Jordan into a scorching fury. He beat Derringer to a pulp with his bare hands and hurled him out of the window, sending him hurtling 300 stories to his death (again). Jordan and Lu escaped with the assistance of Chris and Joe, who had just rigged a massive 'dirty thunderbomb' to destroy Babel. After confronting Dominic Alphonse (newly transformed into an incubus) and his 'Blood Children'. Chris destroyed the tower with a colossal explosion, unleashing an artificially-made dirty thunderstorm that wiped out the nearby Norn soldiers. In the aftermath of the War, several thousand Specters gathered in Detroit to mourn the fallen. During the wake at the Chophouse (a Specter bar), Jordan received a phone call and stepped outside to take the call. The man on the line gave his name to be Anatoli Vicar, and he proposes a deal to Jordan, at which point Season 1 concludes.